This paper describes the recent developments in the ITU and IETF toward a mixed raster content mode for color facsimile and a TIFF-based file format for facsimile data. The Mixed Raster Content (MRC) mode, scheduled for approval by the ITU in October 1997, enables the efficient processing, interchange and archiving of pages containing a mixture of color and black-and-white images. MRC uses a 3-layer model to segment an image into layers, which are coded using existing black-and-white and color facsimile methods that are matched to the content of the layer. The MRC model allows the differing requirements of text, line art and pictures to be simultaneously met within a single fax data stream. The MRC model has also been proposed as an architectural framework for JPEG 2000. Internet fax is progressing within the ITU and IETF. Recent attention has been focused on TIFF as a file format for facsimile data, and this paper will describe the status of ongoing work on file format proposals.
Robert Buckley, Dennis Venable, Lloyd McIntyre, "New Developments in Color Facsimile and Internet Fax" in Proc. IS&T 5th Color and Imaging Conf., 1997, pp 296 - 300, https://doi.org/10.2352/CIC.1997.5.1.art00058